The holiday season is upon us, so it’s time to break out the ol’ holiday submissions, STFUP-style. After all, while children are nestled all snug in their beds with visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads, parents are often posting on Facebook. So curl up with a mug of Bailey’s or perhaps a roll of cookie dough, and check out my Christmas list of six faux pas to avoid posting this holiday season:

1. The Mom With The Elf On The Shelf

Last year it was much more in vogue to be pro-EOTS* than anti-EOTS (*Elf On The Shelf, duh), but this year the consensus is decidedly the opposite. Trend pieces about how much people hate that rascally, ever-limber holiday mascot have been mischievously appearing everywhere, and many parents have thankfully refrained from posting (or, at least, over-posting) about their various Elf On The Shelf “adventures.” Or maybe they’ve all just flocked to Pinterest this year; I’m not sure. One thing I do know: It doesn’t get more 2012 than this picture of an Elf On The Shelf holding a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey. *shudder*

Suzanne’s kind of awesome just because of the HUGE story I can almost instantly make up in my head from such a short sentence/picture combo.

http://itsmyworldcanthasnotyours.blogspot.com/ wmdkitty

Number 5. Just… number 5. Totally wrong, in so many ways.

KateB

I despise Amy in #4. She wins the prize for worst human in this collection.

lucygoosey74

I know, right? Her bitchy comments made me cringe.

Jenny May

When I have kids, my rule for whether or not I share a photo of them with friends online will be, “If it was a picture of me doing the same thing, would I be okay with other people seeing it?” if the answer is yes, I’ll go ahead and share. If the answer is no, I won’t. Rest assured, the internet will not be graced with any pictures of my future children sitting on the crapper!

Tinyfaeri

Your Faceook and/or Instagram friends thank you (as does the world).

Justme

I’d hate to see the rest of the photos in the 50 Shades of Elf photo album….whips and chains………..plugs.

LiteBrite

That was the one I liked the most. After 22 days of trying to move our elf in creative places, I’m running out of ideas and am ready to just lay him on the floor next to an empty bottle of Jack. But that would be wrong….of course.

Katherine

No, it would be so, so right…

Gremlin

So. much. win. (I know, winning is so 2011).

LiteBrite

If anyone is getting an iPad in this house, it’s ME.

kmeghan

I cannot understand people who would give CHILDREN an $800+ electronic. It’s one thing to have one as a family, and do things together, because there are a lot of really great apps out there for learning, but to just give them one??!! Hell, my whole holiday budget isn’t even 400 bucks.

bumbler

ok, but what if your budget WAS $10,000? Seems more reasonable? Of course the average person can’t (or at least shouldn’t) shell out nearly 1k for a toy, but there are plenty of people with plenty of money in the world. Surely you understand that. I’m not saying kids should have ipads, but you seem to lack perspective on it.

kmeghan

I understand many more people have larger budgets, and they like being able to do things for their kids…I work with well off children and they are almost all spoiled brats who expect and demand things. Children don’t have to save or work for anything anymore, it’s just handed to them. There’s no expectation of good behavior, or good grades…it’s just demanded. I know that’s not everyone, but I still don’t see the need to give a child such an expensive ‘toy’.

http://www.facebook.com/helen.donovan.31 Helen Donovan

Nope. My Uncle was a very successful doctor with a batch of kids. However, as he made clear to his kids, it was his (and my aunt’s) money. He was very against his kids growing up expecting to start out living the lifestyle that it had taken him years of schooling and 25 years of practice to attain. He expected them to earn their own money. (He did pay for college and help with cars when needed but they bought their dress at Learner’s not at Saks or Nieman Marcus.) Smart man

Leigha7

Just because you can afford to spend $800 on a single present for your kid doesn’t mean you should. I could see maybe if they were a teenager, because laptops and even smartphones and tablets are useful and make pretty decent (if expensive) gifts, but I honestly can’t think of a single reason why a small child should ever be given something so expensive (well, ONE–children with communication problems could benefit from having a tablet as a tool, but that’s different).

The most expensive gifts I would consider giving young-ish children would be something like a Kindle or an iPod (both under $200), and that’s only if they 1. have enough interest in reading/music to get my money’s worth out of it, and 2. have demonstrated that they are responsible enough to not lose or break them. I guess a digital camera would fall into the same category. At any rate, $200 is about the max I could justify, and it’d be a huge special present, not something they should expect for every present-giving occasion.

Amber

I don’t get it.. Did people not want Suzanne to be pregnant? Did they say she could never be pregnant? Did she say she felt pregnant but nobody believed her? I want to know more of this story!!!!

Jessie

Actually… If I’m correct in guessing the brand of test she used, and I’m fairly sure I am because I have used that particular brand a few times before, that line actually means that she is NOT pregnant, which further piques my interest in her “haters” comment… o.O

Amber

I see a faint line…. Either way it’s still confusing. I really want to know the story from the submitter.

katydid0605

there are two lines, so she is pregnant

http://www.facebook.com/IterImpius Nana Leonti

There’s a really faint line so it could be a very early positive.

RCIAG

#3, man those “early” people just chap my ass. I frickin’ HATE those people that are all “Oh you’re not DONE YET?!!? I finished shopping & wrapping before Thanksgiving!! I’d have the tree out & everything decorated if my husband didn’t stop me!!”

Oh fuck you six ways to Sunday.

Some of us have the life sucked out of us 8 hours a day while at work & when we get home the LAST thing we wanna do is 1)go back out shopping or 2)haul ALL the Christmas shit out to decorate. So we have to cram it all into the few weekends we have.

Then sometimes some of us get as ill as we’ve been in years & end up doing nothing for a week but watch Ricki Lake & Cartoon Network & pray we can breathe again & maybe stop coughing long enough to sleep more than an hour at time.

So once again #3, fuck you 7 ways to Sunday.

KatDuck

Yes. And, amazingly enough, some of us don’t want 1/12th of our year spent in the Christmas hype. Around here Advent gets the weekends and Christmas gets the week leading up to it (well, two weeks this year because that’s when we had time to buy the tree.) And, surprise of all surprises, we lived.

kmeghan

I get all my shopping down throughout the fall, but I don’t brag about it all over facebook. This year I was hit with a super virus and was sick for almost 3 weeks. Never did put up a tree! But, at least my shopping was done.

http://www.facebook.com/helen.donovan.31 Helen Donovan

Plus, who want to put up a tree so early that it gets dusty before Christmas?

http://www.facebook.com/paul.white.3532507 Paul White

You know, I’d say I’m about 50/50 on liking the STFU parents blog.

This entry? 100% agree with. Who the hell post photos of a kid pooping?! that’s just mean for everyone!

KatDuck

Dearest Amy, we got our tree two weeks before Christmas. It was on sale. As were the ornaments. We win.

Katie

I laughed so hard at the last one, I don’t even want to know the context, I am just happy with it being exactly how it is.

Went to the supermarket today (26th of December) and saw shelves upon shelves of 50% off Christmas lights, baubles, cards, wrapping paper and so on, so no, I don’t think the stores were all sold out.

bumbler

where I live everything sells out in late November. It’s crazy, but it does happen. I have no idea why it’s like this, because back home on the west coast the shelves are full of lights etc all the way into January.

Leigha7

I’ve never quite understood how that would even happen. I know my family used the same string of Christmas lights for YEARS and only bought a new one when that one stopped working (so I think we went through two throughout my entire childhood). And most of our ornaments were old, some at least old enough to be from my grandparents’ childhoods, if not older. They bought me one each year as a family tradition (I’m an only child). Everyone else I know does the same thing (heck, my boyfriend’s family even has the same ornament tradition, except with more than one kid to buy for).

Is that not normal? Do people usually buy all new lights and ornaments every year? How else would stores run out, especially so early?

kmeghan

I was really surprised that there wasn’t a lot of Christmas stuff left around my town. but, if you really needed something, I’m sure they could have found it.

http://www.facebook.com/helen.donovan.31 Helen Donovan

Apparently being named Amy causes mental problems. Amy 1 – I kept my lights and ornaments from last year so F–You and I’ll put up my tree whenever I choose bitch.
Amy #2 (in more ways then one) why are you using your child as pervert bait???? Also, please read this and share with all your asshat friends. Pooping IS NOT a “blessing,” “a miracle” or in any way a religious or awe inspiring event! And it is certainly not something that needs to be commemorated with a picture.

Katherine

Psst…Amy in #4: not everyone has the same Christmas traditions. My mother is Ukrainian, so we always have a Ukrainian Christmas dinner on Epiphany. The tree goes up around Dec. 19 (Eastern Orthodox St. Nicholas’ Day) and stays up until Jan. 6 or so.
And heck, some people just don’t care to make Christmas a two-month-long marathon!

Sorry im posting on all your old posts but im just getting started lol
Am I the only one who thinks kids don’t need nor should they be given an iPad for Christmas? I don’t like the iPad, personally. But if I did and decided to get one it would be for the whole family to share not for one kid.